A cobjpokation of



thereto of the picker stick slot guard of the tnarrnn stares @FFEPQE- JOSEPH GRANDMAISON, OF BRUNSWICK, MAINE, ASSIGNDB TO HDPEDALE MANU- I FACTURING COMPANY, OF MILFORD,

MASSACHUSETTS.

IiIASS-ACI'ITISIECII'IS, A CORPORATION OF AUTOMATIC 11003101.

rename.

Specification of Letters Patent,

Application filed Julie M, 1918. Serial No. 239,939.

To all whom it may concern;

Be itknownthat 1, Joanna Gmnnrrarson, a citizen of'the United States; residing at Brunswick, in the county of Cumberland and State of Maine. have'invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Looms; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,-;and exact description of the invention, such as'will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the sa'n'leu,

The present invention relates to an improvement in automatic looms.

During the weft replenishing operation of automatic looms, particularly those of the Northrop type, the ejected filling carrier sometimes fails tip end first into the picker stick slot and lodges there with the result that severe and often serious damage is caused to the: 100m. It is the object of the present invention to produce a device adapted forap'plication to the replenishing shuttle box of an automatic loom so as to prevent an ejected filling carrier from falling into the picker stick slot. To the accomplish: ment of this object, the invention consists in the structure particularly pointed out in the appended claim, a specific form of this structure being described in the following specification.

The preferred form of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a front elevation of part of the replenishing shuttle box of an automatic loom, showingg the application present invention; and Fig. 2 is a section taken along the line 22 of Fig. l looking "in the direction of the arrows.

The automatic loom to which the device of the present invention is applied may, in general, be of any usual or preferred form. The weft replenishing mechanism thereof operates when thefiliing on the old filling carrier in the active shuttle is broken or completely exhausted, or exhausted to a predetermined extent, to eject the old filling carrier by inserting in the shuttle in the placethcreof, a new filling carrier provided with a fresh supply of filling. The shuttle box at the end of the lay opposite the replenishing mechanism is known as the re plenishing shuttle box and is indicated generally in. the drawings by the reference numeral 5. The shuttle box comprises; a front plate 6, a: bottom plate 7,121 back plate or hinder 8, and a top plate'ilt The front plate 6 is secured to the bottoniplate 7, which serves as the shuttlea'ace and rests directly on the lay 11, which is mounted to swing.

the binder is en aged by an inwardly pressed finger 14'. Botr the front plate 6 and the binder 8 are faced with leather 15.

The shuttle 1:2 is picked by a picker 17 carried on the upper end of a picker stick 18 which travels in a picker stick slot 19. This picker stick slot 19, as clearly appears from Patented July 8, i are.

an inspection of Fig. is entirely below the lay ll. A. checks-trap 20-is provided for the purpose of acting as a drag on the picker stick as it swings outwardly, that is, to the right viewing Fig. l. The check-strap 20 is received between two downwardly extending fingers. 22 and 23, which are slightly staggered with relation to ea h other so as to exert a retarding effect on the chcckstrap as the picker stick draws it past the fingers 22 and 23 on its outward swing into its nor mal or inoperative position, which is the position ocdupicd by the picker stick in Fig. 1.

The weft replenishing mechanism is indicated by the operating end of the transferrer hammer 25, which is shown in Fig. 2 in the act of inserting: a fresh filling carrier or. between the holding jaws 27 of the shut 28 out. As the ejected filling carrier falls it usually strikes a chute 29 which deflects the filling carrier into a can, or other receptacle provided for the purpose. The chute *2!) is secured at its outer end to the lay by means of a bolt 30. The lingers 22 and '23 depend from the outer end of the chute 29. The construction and operation of the above described parts are well known to those skilled in the art.

As before stated, the ejected filling carrier does not always fall in its intended and usual manner so as to be deflected by the chute 29 into the receiving can. it sometimes falls in such-manner that it enters tip first into the picker stick slot. The cause of this unusual action is not always apparent but, when it is considered that the filling carrier is held only at its enlarged or butt end 32, by spring jaws which at most engage less than an inch of surface of the filling carrier, that the old fillingcarrier is suddenly ejected from the holding jaws by the inser tion of another carrier in its place, that the filling carriers are. ejected with varying amounts of filling on them whereby their center of gravity is varied and that, finally, there is nothing to positively control the movements of the ejected carriers, it is not surprising that occasionally a carrier falls tip first into the picker stick slot. This slot as usually constructed is of less width than the diameter of the butt end 32 of the filling carrier, as clearly appears from'an inspect-ion of Fig. 2, so that the filling carrier cannot pass through the pi -ker stick slot but lodges firmly therein in case it falls into the slot. Of course, the pickerstick slot does not extend the full length of the slot 10 in the shuttle-race through which the ejected filling carrier passes out of the replenishing shuttle box, but terminates at substantially the liinit of the picking movement of the picker stick.

That is to say, the picker stick slot will extend only as far as the flanged edge 31 of the chute 25). It apparent, therefore, that the chances of the ejected filling carrier falling into the picker stick slot are remote; but it nevertheless remains a fact that occasionally one 'does fall into the slot tip first. The lodging of the filling carrier in the picker stick slot results in damage to the loom. In the first place, being in the path of the picker stick, it receives a smart heavy blow from the picker stick as the latter is oscillated to pick the shuttle. The effect of this blow depends largely upon the position of the filling carrier in the slot; Either the filling carrier or the picker stick, or even both may be broken; or the picker stick actuating devices may be broken. If the filling carrier is ejected in such a way that the tip of the filling carrier is in the slot While the butt of the filling carrier extends upward and throughthe shuttle, as sometimes happens,

, thereby displacing the newly inserted filling carrier, the ejected filling carrier will sometimes be broken, leaving an end projecting either below or above the shuttle, with the result that a large number of warp threads will be broken as the shuttle passes through the shed. And even otherdai'nage than thalspecified above will result to the loom from the lodging. either partially or completely,

of a filling carrier in the picker stick slot.

The device of the present invention, by which an ejected fillingcarrier is prevented from falling into the picker stick slot and by which there is accordingly eliminated the possibility 1 the occurrence of the above described damage from this cause, consists of a stripof flexible material 35 which may conveniently be a strip of leather. This strip of leather 3;) constitutes a guard for the picker stick slot and is fastened at its inner end 36 to the under side of the lay at the point where the picker stick slot terminates. At its outer end 37 the guard 35 is fastened to the inner side of the picker stick and at, a point thereon such that when the picker stick is at the limit of its outward movement,

that is, in its normal position, the guard 35 is in line with and constitutes an extension of the under surface of the lay as shown in Fig. 1. It is while the picker stick and. the guard are in this position, and while the shuttle is in the replenishing shuttle box, that the replenishing operation takes place. Conscquently, if the filling -arrior falls tip first; toward the picker stick slot the tip of the filling -arrier will strike the guard 35 and the filling carrier will thereby be prwented from enteringinto the picker stick slot.

,The guard 35 in nowise impedes the picking action of the picker stick, and since the picking movement does not take place until after the'lay begins its backward beat, the filling carrier has sufiicient time to fall out of the way of the picker stick before the picking action. As the picker stick moves toward the inner end of its slot, during the picking movement, the guard falls down as a loop, as shown in dot and dash lines in Fig. 1.

Throughout the foregoing description the term filling carrier is used in its generic sense as indicating all types of carriers for carrying the weft thread through the shed, such as bobbins and, more particularly, cop

. skewers.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

An automatic loom having, in combination, a lay, a replenishing shuttle box having in its bottom a slot for the passage therethrough of an ejected filling carrier, a picker stick, a picker stick slot below the shuttle box and a strip of flexible material secured at its inner end to the lay and at its outer end to the picker stick soto cover over the picker stick .slot when the plcker stick is in its normal pos1t1on.

JOSEPH GRANDMAISON. 

